Hey There

No More Saggy Doors

Hey there, droopy! Probably not exactly what you want to hear somebody call you, no matter what they're talking about. Well did you ever stop to think your Camaro doesn't want to hear those words either? By now you're probably wondering, "What is he talking about?" I'm talking about doors saggin' farther than a rap artist's pants!

Have you ever stopped to look at just how long the doors on a Second-Generation Camaro are? Not exactly a couple of short stacks, are they? And one thing that comes with a long, heavy door is sagging hinges. After 30 years of holding up all that steel, especially at the end of the door, things are going to begin to twist and turn. Can you live with sagging doors? Well, if ya had to, yes. But why would you want to? Once you finish building that bitchin' Camaro, the last thing you want to do is sit back and take a long hard look at months and months of hard work and notice that the door edges don't line up. Now the bad news is you can't exactly go and grab a new set of door hinges off another Camaro. Let's be realistic--why trade one bad apple for another? So what do you do?

National Parts Depot (NPD) offers a wide variety of restoration parts for First- and Second-Generation Camaros, including reproduction door hinges. NPD offers both the upper and lower door hinges for the driver- and passenger-side Second-Generation Camaros. The hinges are OEM replications and bolt up to stock mounting position. For the most part, the install is just unbolting and bolting, which a 6-year-old could knock out. On the other hand, it's not as easy as it seems. Once the hinges are on, you will have to sit there and adjust them, which to be honest with ya, it could take some time. But hey look at this way, a little work never hurt anyone, and it sure won't hurt the look of your Camaro.

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Before starting, it's a good idea to take a floor jack and place it underneath the door. Once you begin loosening and removing bolts, the door is going to fall and the jack will keep the door upright and allow you adjust the height.

The new upper and lower National Parts Depot hinges were bolted to the Camaro body. Tighten the bolts to where they will just hold the hinge in place. Be sure not to tighten them too tight because the hinges need to have some "play" in them, which will make bolting the door on easier.

Close the door gently to see how it fits, then do it again! Unfortunately, there's no mathematical formula to figure this stuff out, it's just guess and check, guess and check, until you're near the right fit.

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Hey There

Before starting, it's a good idea to take a floor jack and place it underneath the door. Once you begin loosening and removing bolts, the door is going to fall and the jack will keep the door upright and allow you adjust the height.

Remove the bolts, attaching the door to the OEM hinges. We removed both the upper and lower hinge bolts holding the door in place first.

With the bolts holding the OEM hinges to the body exposed, they were much easier to get to, which allowed us to remove the hinges much easier as well

The new upper and lower National Parts Depot hinges were bolted to the Camaro body. Tighten the bolts to where they will just hold the hinge in place. Be sure not to tighten them too tight because the hinges need to have some "play" in them, which will make bolting the door on easier.

Place the jack back underneath the door and set it to the correct height. Then bolt the door to the hinges.

Here's the fun part. Adjust the NPD hinges every which way until it looks like they're where they should be.

Close the door gently to see how it fits, then do it again! Unfortunately, there's no mathematical formula to figure this stuff out, it's just guess and check, guess and check, until you're near the right fit.

We didn't want to cut any corners on our 1971 Chevrolet Camaro, and that is why we turned to Ground Up Restoration to restore the driver and passenger floor pan on our second generation Camaro. - Super Chevy Magazine » Read More

In the last three issues, we’ve followed along as Auto Metal Direct’s Installation Center stripped our 1969 Chevy Camaro from a complete roller to a bare skeletal frame of rockers, A-pillars, C-pillars and some inner roof braces... a car can’t be more disassembled than this and still be called “a car”! » Read More